New Court Private Equity Fund, Inc.

List of Deals

The New Court Private Equity Fund was created in New York in 1970 by New Court Securities Corporation. The Fund was a venture capital fund that was initially created with $51.5 million to assist in financing new business ventures sponsored by New Court Securities, the manager, as well as other investment groups and institutional investors. One of the lead partners in this fund was Charles L. Lea, Jr., who in subsequent years earned the reputation of being a pioneer of the venture capital sector and left a legacy of new-business creation. He earned the distinction playing a seminal role in the formation of some of the most important structures of the venture capital community. In the case of New Court Private Equity Fund, Lea and the other founders chose to organize it as a private limited partnership, an innovation that became a model for the industry.

Within months after its creation, the fund was investing in oil and gas properties and shortly thereafter began investing in start-ups like Federal Express.

The New Court Securities Corporation was founded only three years earlier, in 1967, by five large European banks to purchase securities and back new ventures in the United States. New Court earned the reputation of being the primary investment vehicle for the Rothschilds in the United States. The banking firms were Messrs. de Rothschild Freres in Paris, N.M. Rothschild & Sons in London, Pierson, Heldring & Person in Amsterdam and The Hague, Banque Lambert in Brussels, and Banque Privee in Geneva.